Prevent Wasted Food

Preventing Wasted Food is a National Thing!

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Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

Since 2018, we here at No Food Left Behind-Corvallis have been bringing you information and resources, which we hope have been enlightening & motivational, about the systemic, global problem of wasted food. Five years later, we’re happy to be a partner — for the second consecutive year — of National Food Waste Prevention Week, April 10th-16th, 2023.

(Temps don’t stay constant!)

There’ll be loads of resources and connections from all over the country, social media engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, tips for wasting less at home, events, an art contest for K-12 students, webinars, and fun game show-style quizzes. There will also be more Spanish-language resources and materials! Keep checking back at their website for updates and happenings.

The goal of National Food Waste Prevention Week is “to educate and inspire real cultural change around food waste… to help families save money, reduce the negative impact of food waste on the environment, and address hunger in our communities.” Pretty ambitious — but the good news is there are hundreds of partners from every part of the country, representing every sector of the food system, signing on. Hooray! Preventing Wasted Food is a National Thing!

Oregon is one of the top three states with 38 participating agencies and organizations so far, thanks to our colleagues at the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Materials Management division, which is a principal organizing partner for this national event. DEQ also lends its unique “Bad Apple” campaign characters (like the broccoli figure) to the national effort. Maybe you’ve picked up one of these stickers at our Farmers’ Market table!

We would be remiss if we neglected to mention the fact that DEQ grant funding jump-started NFLB five years ago. We are proud to be one of DEQ’s partners in its statewide campaign to reduce wasted food.

How You Can Participate in National Food Waste Prevention Week:

  • TAKE THE PLEDGE to use good habits to reduce food waste at home and work, be accountable, and share your knowledge with others! Then post your commitment on social media (if you so choose).
  • TAKE A QUIZ: Are you as savvy as a 5th Grader? Daily fun facts and tips. (Maybe you ARE a fifth grader!)
  • Encourage your child to enter the STUDENT ART CONTEST. This year’s theme: “How Does Reducing Our Food Waste Protect Our Planet?” Check out last year’s winners!
  • Learn something or make a new connection in a WEBINAR. The offerings range from general interest to geeky. Many will be state- or regionally-specific.
  • FOLLOW National Food Waste Prevention Week on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for fun facts and tips before, during and after the week!
  • TRACK YOUR FOOD HABITS FOR A WEEK using NFLB’s “Wasted Food Discovery Week” form (also available in Spanish). Browse our Recipes for Leftovers, or download one or more of our other Smart Strategies to help you change those behaviors and save money!
  • SEE FUN EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS in English and Spanish from NFLB’s own “Magic Mama” Kjersten Hallin. This spring, Kjersten will once again be presenting these, along with movement, music and curriculum-enhancing activities in Corvallis schools. Contact us to request a visit to your child’s classroom!

EVERY WEEK CAN BE WASTED FOOD PREVENTION WEEK!

Many of you, during our regular encounters at the Corvallis Farmers’ Markets, have mentioned your concerns about the entire spectrum of food waste, from unharvested produce at field and farm, to the full dumpsters behind a big box grocer or retailer, to the garbage receptacles at restaurants, in school lunchrooms, at sporting events and festivals.

We’re happy to report that the problem is now being addressed in nearly every state and in many municipalities, through governmental programs and public-private partnerships across all sectors of our food systems. Sophisticated, data-driven initiatives from non-profit and non-governmental research organizations like ReFED, Project Drawdown, and the NRDC have created resources and conceptual groundwork for systemic change by 2030.

But it still comes down to each one of us, in our own households, to make the biggest difference. It’s now well established that most food waste happens IN THE HOME, and that reducing food waste is the #1 personal action we can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions driving the global climate crisis.

National Food Waste Prevention Week happens each April, just like Earth Day. Shouldn’t EVERY DAY be Earth Day? Let’s make EVERY WEEK Food Waste Prevention Week!

Congratulations, Conscientious Food Consumers (and everyone who’s working on it). You are part of a nationwide, even international, movement!

Magic Mama’s Waste-Less Message

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

Did you miss us? Since our last Kitchen Confessions, we've been keeping busy at our local Farmers' Markets and bringing our Eco-Edutainment videos into wider circulation. In November, we held our first public event in years, "Food: Too Good To Waste!" -- a family-friendly, active-learning presentation of those videos, along with educational resource tables, prize drawings and local, fresh veggie/fruit Tasting Tables, at the Corvallis Community Center.

It was the first public presentation of the videos -- three short but information-packed episodes (in Spanish & English) -- created, directed and produced by NFLB Educational Specialist Kjersten "Magic Mama" Hallin during the first two years of the pandemic.

We announced them last year in "Kitchen Confessions," and during the summer of 2022, the finished work received some nice publicity in our local paper.

Magic Mama's Waste-Less Message is delivered in the videos with catchy songs, rhythmic beats, animated sequences and easy-to-remember takeaways, interspersed with fun explorations of such important concepts as the carbon footprint or "foodprint" of your diet. We visit a local organic farm, meet some of the people who work there and learn some new connections about the resources involved in food production, "from seed to plate." 

Local kid actors in many of the scenes help to make Magic Mama's message more relevant for younger viewers. And while kids of all ages -- as well as adults -- can benefit from viewing the videos, the material was developed to help meet school curriculum standards for grades 4-6.

Sing Along with Magic Mama! "Don't throw it away! ... Food Too Good To Waste!"

Takeaway: Video #3

At our video premiere event, we had a lot of fun engaging our all-ages audience in singing, moving, snacking and learning new ways of relating to the food we eat -- and possibly waste -- every day. This included a couple who drove up from Springfield for something different to do on pre-Thanksgiving weekend!

Here's some of the great comments we received afterwards:

  • Everyone should see this!
  • Fun and inspiring!
  • Very impressed by the diversity represented by the actors
  • It's good to see the faces of the people who grow our food

    TURNIP-TOP PESTO * Turnip Greens * Kale * Dill * Olive Oil * * Lemon Juice * Garlic * Green Pumpkin Seeds * Salt
  • Our kids loved the Claymation scenes
  • How did you make the turnip-top pesto?
  • Can you bring this to our school/community?

Haven't seen our Eco-Edutainment videos yet? You and your family are in for a treat! Take a break from Netflix or the latest movies, and have fun learning together. Kids of all ages love them!

Seen 'em before? Share with others in your network and help Magic Mama and NFLB spread the message: "Food is Too Good to Waste"! You can also share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. Muchas Gracias!

If you'd like to bring Kjersten/"Magic Mama" and the Eco-Edutainment experience to your child's school, please let us know by using our handy Contact Form. A teacher's companion guide for 4th, 5th and 6th grades is also in the works.

We'd like to thank our community volunteers and event partners who helped make our video premiere on November 19th such a success:

Freshly-prepared veggie/fruit trays, on the way to the Tasting Table
  • Corvallis High School's Green Team, for several pairs of nimble hands, great attitudes & nearly-zero waste kitchen prep of our beautiful fruit/veggie "food mandala" trays & refreshing agua fresca beverages. See a time-lapse of Calla, Emma, Eddie, Farren, Eliza and Kjersten in action!
  • Tina Dodge and the OSU Food Hero program, for providing wonderful giveaways and informative materials (in Spanish and English) for our event attendees. If you've got kids at home during school breaks, set 'em loose in the kitchen with easy recipes and videos for dozens of kid-approved dishes from this chock-fulla-resources site! (We've mentioned Food Hero a number of times in Kitchen Confessions.)
  • Corvallis Community Center (C3) staff -- especially Carl and Rue, for going above and beyond with technical assistance;
  • Chris, volunteer with Benton To Go and the Waste Prevention Action Team;
  • Lauri at Green Girl Reusable Partyware;
  • The rest of our stellar volunteer crew, who helped with set up, compost pails, food running/serving, and cleanup: Macy, Cole, Kelli, Sydney, Bethany & daughter, Kate and Kalesh.

SCENES FROM OUR COMMUNITY EVENT!

Enjoying the presentation!
The “Seed to Plate” audience participation activity showed the use of resources involved in food production
(Almost) Zero-waste Show & Tell: Kjersten displayed this single bag of compostable trimmings from prepping the fresh fruit & veggie snack trays!
Tina from OSU’s Food Hero had some great giveaways and info
Our stellar volunteers included Macy from the Education Action Team & Cole
Fresh, local, and beautifully prepared trays of veggies & apples from Gathering Together Farm and Midway Farms
Chris from Benton To Go helps Jeanette identify one of our prize drawing winners
Miles of free compost pails!
Our fantastic clean-up crew!

Are you a Conscientious Carnivore?

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Another Earth Day/Week is behind us — so what now?

Given the state of things on our planet, there is at least one thing we all do every day that can help… one thing that each of us has some control over: what we eat. “The way we eat has a direct impact on the climate crisis,” notes the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization working on human health and environmental issues since 1993.

NFLB’s Avocado Hero!

Most of us know we should eat more veggies! It also happens to be one of the most effective ways each of us can tread the Earth with a lighter carbon footprint. Now, more than ever, it’s time for those of us who choose/prefer an animal product diet to examine the impacts of our choices — and to shift toward more sustainable ones.

Fortunately, many carnivorous Americans are willing to do just that! A recent report, “Climate Change and the American Diet,” outlines both the acceptance and the challenges Americans have around eating less red meat and more plant-based foods. 

SO IT’S TIME to address this huge topic that we’ve shied away from (thus far) in Kitchen Confessions — the environmental (not to mention human health) consequences of animal-based diets. Especially when those kinds of food products get wasted! Keep scrolling that document, and you’ll see that most waste happens in the household, including 31% of seafood, 21% of meat, and 20% of dairy groceries.

To be clear: we’re not here to guilt trip anybody over their dietary choices and preferences.

Graphic: Kjerstin Hallin, NFLB’s Eco-Educator

CONFESSION: I’m an omnivore myself, consuming varying proportions of pork, chicken, turkey, cheese and other dairy products, eggs and seafood, as well as grains, veggies and fruits. Beef — not so much! (Although in the past I’ve certainly eaten my share of burgers.) NFLB’s Founder/Director, Jeanette Hardison, CONFESSES that her family is of the same dietary persuasion. “We also try to swap in non-GMO tofu and other meat alternatives on a regular basis,” she says.

SO WHAT’S A “CONSCIENTIOUS CARNIVORE?” It’s a non-vegan, non-vegetarian Conscientious Food Consumer who:

  1. Recognizes the impacts of dietary choices.
  2. Buys/consumes fewer animal products.
  3. Wastes less of what they do buy.

It starts with a concept the Earth Day Network calls a “Foodprint” — the quantification of environmental impacts of what we eat. Beef is the most resource-intensive form of animal protein, requiring 20 times more land and producing 20 times more GHG emissions per gram of edible protein than protein from plants (such as beans).

OSU Professor Bill Ripple has determined the “farm to fork” environmental cost of beef and dairy consumption to be up to 48 times that of high-protein plant sources. For chicken, pork and seafood, he found, it’s 3-10 times more.

Animal agriculture accounts for more than 14% of greenhouse gas emissions (earthday.org)

From cultivated feed crops to every step in the supply chain and up to the animal processing stage, the industrial model of meat production requires enormous amounts of land, water, fossil fuels/energy, and labor, as well as presenting issues around animal welfare.

Curious about your own/your family’s ‘foodprint’? Take this quiz, check out the “Meat Calculator”, resources for kids and other Foodprints for the Future references. Whether your efforts toward a carbon-minimizing diet are modest or ambitious, we hope the suggestions below will be helpful!

8 Ways To Be A Conscientious Carnivore:

  • Step it up — big time! — to not waste animal food products and the $$ investment they represent. * Start with Smart Storage, right after you get the groceries home. (Just don’t freeze and forget it!)  * Refer to this freezer storage and food safety guide (you can even freeze eggs!) * Keep track of/use up random leftovers in an “Eat First!” area of your fridge or freezer — especially things like last weekend’s BBQ chicken, opened packages of lunch meat, half-cartons of milk or yogurt. * Use USDA’s FoodKeeper app!
  • Be okay with eating less -but higher-quality- meat/poultry, seafood and dairy, like pasture-raised beef or eggs from free-range chickens. Yes, they do cost more — but if you’re buying fewer animal products, it could balance out. It’s also extra motivation for avoiding waste! Mix in a good proportion of mushrooms, vegetables or grains with your meat of choice, and you’ll stretch your budget, too.
  • Plan and prepare one or more meat-free meals each week, like “Meatless Mondays” or whichever day(s). This works great for one of my faves — chili! Swap out the meat-based elements in a few of your favorite dishes with plant-based oils and alternative proteins from grains, beans, nuts, tofu, seitan, or maybe even a cultivated “meat substitute.” (We’re not talking about crickets –yet.)
  • Downsize dairy consumption, and experiment with dairy alternatives. You don’t have to give up your favorite old-fashioned ice cream or half-n-half in your coffee! Just think smaller and less-frequent servings. For me, it’s pints instead of quarts of ice cream, vegan caramelized onion “cheese” spread, and using plant-based coffee creamers more often.
  • Search out cookbooks and websites not centered around animal proteins or ingredients — like these simple recipes. There’s endless inspiration for tasty adventures with plant-based menus from around the world that will get you using your spice rack more often!
  • Occasionally go vegan for dessert! Baked goods and treats made without eggs or dairy are popping up on frozen dessert/bakery shelves and coffee shops all over now, so it’s easy to give it a try. Vegan substitutions in recipes are also now more common, so you can experiment at home with plant-based milks and butters. Sweet!
  • Involve kiddos in the planning and preparation of some meat-free/plant-based dishes and menus. There’s a wonderful variety of kid-tested vegetarian (and special-diet) recipes here and at OSU’s Food Hero.
  • Be sure to use your Yard Debris/Mixed Organics cart from Republic Services to compost spoiled meat and dairy items, when all else fails! Their industrial processes convert food waste — even bones — into high-quality compost instead of landfill greenhouse gas emissions.

In the months and years to come, we’re all going to be hearing a lot more about the necessities and how-to’s of “plant-rich,” “plant-based,” and “climate-friendly” diets.

Congratulations! Whether you are a practicing Conscientious Carnivore, aspiring to become one — or not a carnivore at all — you’re making a difference. Please help by liking and sharing our blog on Facebook!

Discover how much you can $ave in 2022 with our DIY challenge!

Greetings for 2022, Conscientious Food Consumers!

Kitchen Confessions is back and we’re ramping up our efforts to help you waste less food and save more $$ in your household food budget in this new year. You can look forward to even more useful tips, anecdotes, resources and friendly nudges for making the most of your groceries — every day, every meal!

Now that we’ve all had awhile to settle into 2022, it’s a great time to challenge ourselves to a Do-It-Yourself Wasted Food Discovery Week . It’s a simple, three-step self audit to help you determine:

  • How much and which kinds of food got tossed;
  • Why they got wasted;
  • Optional: weight or volume of wasted food items; and
  • How much did you spend for those items or portions?
    Wasted Food = Wasted $$!

If you live in Corvallis, Albany, or Philomath, please utilize your Yard Debris cart from Republic Services for compost waste.  When you keep food out of the landfill, you’re also doing your part to reduce those powerful methane greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate havoc!

Once you multiply one week’s totals by the number of remaining weeks this year, you’ll probably get a valuable reality check on how much $$ you can save with simple actions and tools like the ones in our Smart Strategies tool box (available in both Spanish and English).

Karen’s Confession: My Wasted Food Discovery Week “reality check” last year yielded a bottom line of more than $1,000 in potential savings! So I am certainly extra-motivated in this new year to prevent hundreds of my hard-earned dollars from going into the compost bin. You can read about what I learned and shared in KC blog #24, “Waste Happens. Own it-Track it-Save!”

Karen’s Wasted Food Discoveries (omg!)

GREAT TOOLS CREATE GREAT HABITS!
Jeanette’s 2021 success story

NFLB Program Director Jeanette Hardison

In the past year, the NFLB staff has worked extra hard to walk our talk and make changes in our own homes.

We know how challenging it can be at times in family situations and multi-member households, so wasted food/money still happens! This past week, I had to compost some moldy bread ends and some stale cheddar puffs, and Karen shared with me her chagrin about wasting a whole package of Bob’s Red Mill organic oats.

However, in 2021 my family and I realized some notable changes around leftovers and withering produce in the fridge. I have been surprised and delighted to find that, after more than a year taping Eat First! signs to a leftovers section in our fridge, it has become automatic to start our meal prep there!

Whether it was cooked rice, some extra tossed salad, or items closest to their “Best By” dates, it has became so automatic we no longer seem to need the signage!

This part is pretty important: Hubby and I found that if items remained clearly visible, identified AND date-labeled (tape on front is most helpful), it was super easy to eat everything up!

So in using NFLB’s Smart Strategy tools, my fridge clean-outs have mostly become a thing of the past. It’s good to know how to build muscle-memory for this money-saving habit! YOU CAN TOO!

*****

How much will you save in 2022, Conscientious Food Consumers? Join the Kitchen Confessions staff and everyday folks like these in everyday actions that can make a HUGE difference! Here’s some other resources you may find useful:

Smart Strategy: Prep Now, Eat Later
ACTION: How to use your Yard Debris/Mixed Organics recycling cart from Republic Services
Smart Strategy: Fruit & Vegetable Storage Guide

Here’s to a healthy and waste-less 2022! If you’re shopping the Winter Farmers’ Market at the Benton County Fairgrounds (we’re there every other week near the main entrance, across from Riverland Farms), be sure to drop by our booth and say hello!

Converting Confessions to Lessons Learned

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

We’ve all come a long way since the start of Kitchen Confessions, haven’t we? Doing the best we can to keep on living, working, virtual learning, shopping, cooking and eating our way through a pandemic. Getting real about wasted food in our homes, and doing what it takes to get the most out of our grocery dollars — each and every month. It’s time for some congratulations, all around!

We’re going to share some modest triumphs — ours and a few of yours — in the daily struggle against shriveled, moldy and slimy produce, leftovers that turned into science experiments, freezer-burned whatever, and many other tragedies involving formerly-edible food. These anecdotes illustrate positive outcomes from increased awareness of our daily food habits.

Remember also to pat yourselves on the back, Conscientious Food Consumers, for helping to conserve all those precious natural and human resources — energy, soil, water, labor, packaging, transportation and delivery systems — that went into your food. And locally, you’re helping to meet the goals of the in the Corvallis Climate Action Plan, in which reduction of wasted food is a high priority (p.17).

We like how Mishele M. of Corvallis puts it:
“It’s a mindset, that it’s unconscionable to throw anything away. That food gave its life for us, so why would we throw it away?! We don’t take our resources lightly.”  Here’s more about why prevention of wasted food matters.

CONFESSIONS CONVERTED/LESSONS LEARNED: NFLB staff

Jeanette’s non-edible composting

JEANETTE: It’s a happy day in my household when I prepare to empty the contents of my compost pail and see ONLY non-edible food scraps, peels, and trimmings. I feel like, yay! We’re getting it right!

Karen’s see-through Eat First! bins

KAREN: Thanks to Kitchen Confessions, I’ve had to keep up with reality-checking in my own kitchen and being candid about it all… Especially after using our DIY Wasted Food Discovery worksheet, and I realized I was potentially wasting as much as $1,000 a year!

So I set a goal of saving at least $5 per week through better leftovers management in my Eat First! areas, and converted a couple of clear plastic salad containers into see-through Eat First! bins. They keep the items in one place, instead of migrating all over in the fridge! One for greens (layered with damp paper towels) and one for wrapped fruit/veggie, cheese or protein remnants. For at least one meal each day, I rummage in there and head for the blender, skillet or sheet pan.

LESSON LEARNED: It’s easy to save $5/week by making one meal each day using items from Eat First! It’s also easier now to stay on top of my “alligator pears”!

JEANETTE: Best.Glass.Of.Juice.Ever.
A few forgotten mandarin oranges in the bottom of our fridge drawer were discolored and shriveling. I hoped there was still some way to enjoy them, NOT just waste them in compost. So I cut one open and voila! Inside there was still plenty of moisture and good color. I remembered I had a plastic hand juicer tool in the cupboard and went to town. Result: a glass of deliciousness!

 

CONFESSIONS CONVERTED/LESSONS LEARNED: Community members

  • No milk or corncob scraps left behind (Stasi K of Corvallis)
    When milk doesn’t smell or taste perfect anymore but is still “ok” to consume (a bit sour but not curdling), I use it right away in place of buttermilk in pancakes or I’ll freeze it to cook with (heating it provides additional safety).

We also take boiled corn on the cob, slice off and eat the corn, then take the remaining cob/husks and simmer them in the same water for half an hour to make corn stock for a nice flavor addition (can be used like veggie stock). Just strain off the solids.

FOOD SAFETY NOTE: for dairy and other safe food storage info, search StillTasty.com or FoodKeeper, a comprehensive resource from the USDA. It’s one of several handy tools on NFLB’s Apps page.

  • Friendly fridge reminders (Mishele M of Corvallis)

My spouse and I grew up with Depression-era parents, so in both our families the culture is to never, ever throw anything out unless it’s truly inedible. If something DOES start to get old, we just cook it instead of eating it raw.

I’ve trained my hubby not to take items out of the freezer for a meal if something else is already waiting to be eaten up in the fridge. We’ve also found that keeping things well-labeled and to the front of the fridge shelves helps us know which items to attend to next!

When root veggies go soft, we crisp them back up in cold water. That works well for greens too, like Swiss chard and beet greens. We just place them upright in a glass in the fridge or on windowsill.

NOTE: Here’s more helpful tips on freshening up veggies and other compost-rescue strategies.

  • No cukes or zukes left behind (Susan S of Corvallis)
    We used to store our purchased cucumbers in plastic bags, and weren’t eating them up fast enough. Then we learned from NFLB’s A-Z Fruit & Veggie Storage Guide how to properly store them loosely in the crisper drawer. Now our cukes last longer and don’t get slimy, maybe a bit limp or dehydrated, so we slice and crisp them up in cold water.

With zucchinis: we like to shred them and mix with salt, which pulls out the moisture, then grab fistfuls and squeeze out as much of the juice as possible. From there it can be substituted in place of potato in latkes/pancakes, or as a base layer for homemade pizza. The zuke gets soft and it makes the pizza super moist!

  • Cider now, cider later (Pat W of Corvallis)
    One reader responded to our apple blog last year with this no-waste tip: I always split jugs of fresh cider and put (half) in the freezer for another time.

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Got a Confession/Lesson Learned to Share? We’d love to hear your anecdotes about how you’re able to waste less food! Let us know by commenting below.  You can also submit via our contact page: https://nofoodleftbehindcorvallis.org/contact/.

Kids rocking the waste-less kitchen

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumer Families!

In this edition of Kitchen Confessions, we’d like to offer some resources and support to families of Future Chefs and Conscientious Consumers. It’s the middle of summer vacation, so hopefully you are having some opportunities to enjoy spending time in the kitchen together!

How many of your treasured memories involve cooking and food preparation in the family kitchen? Did the pandemic help your family rediscover the joy of cooking at home?

Many kids are eager to help in the kitchen from the time they can maneuver on their own two feet in there and comprehend an adult’s instructions. From that point on, they’re learning significant life lessons about the value of food, food preferences, nutrition and how to shop, as well as desirable practices in the handling and preparation of food. Sustainable food practices are skills that will serve children for the rest of their lives!

Just like us grownups — but as appropriate for their age and with adult supervision — kids can learn how to plan meals and create shopping lists for what’s on the plan, to properly store perishable food and, finally, how to prepare it. After the meal, they can learn how to properly freeze leftovers and other foods, and to start regularly scouting the “Eat First” areas in the fridge or freezer. (All these “Smart Strategies” available in Spanish.)

Young Farmers’ Market patron’s waste-less pledge: “Take only what I will eat”

KNOW-HOW FOR KIDZ WHO COOK

You may already be familiar with the glow of pride and accomplishment on a child’s face when the family enjoys a dish or meal that he/she/they helped prepare, or that they made all by themselves!

Excellent resources for kids learning to cook are available from Oregon State University’s KidSpirit year-round programs (scholarships available), and Food Hero, offered free by the OSU Extension Service’s Family and Community Health division.

Both programs emphasize safe kitchen practices (including washing hands often) and offer an extensive selection of kid-friendly recipes for making healthy food, while helping kids develop confidence and have fun! Food Hero’s compendium of family resources includes gardening, large-batch cooking, and information for older adults and in Spanish.

Be sure to check out the huge list of videos at Food Hero’s Kids Cooking Show — including Grape and Cucumber Salad, a fresh and yummy summertime snack!

WASTE-LESS KIDZ WHO COOK:

  • Are learning to make the most of a family grocery budget, instead of just tossing things in the compost or garbage. (The average American family of four wastes at least $1,600 a year on food that was purchased but not eaten!)
  • May stretch their comfort zones as picky eaters. (I had one of those in my home.) A kid who says “beets are gross” may be willing to sample some pretty pink-colored hummus that he/she/they made themselves from a kid-friendly recipe. Bonus: beet juice is great for coloring summertime Easter eggs!
  • Eat “ugly” produce (like apples with minor bruising, spotted grapes, strangely-shaped tomatoes) or other food products with less-than-perfect characteristics — and have fun doing it.  Next time you see the OSU student Organic Growers Club at the downtown Saturday Farmers’ Market, ask if they still give away free “ugly” produce!
  • Learn portion control early. Many kids are happy to serve themselves when they get the chance. Let’s help them be like our young Farmers’ Market patron (above) who pledged to “take only what I will eat” on her next plate!
  • Learn good waste-less habits early. Check out these waste-less training tips for kids from SaveTheFood.com to see how they resonate with your parenting approach.
  • Make friends with their family freezer. Remember those overripe bananas that were saved from the compost a couple months ago by popping them in the freezer? It’s Banana Smoothie Time! Or popsicles…  Or maybe even banana ice cream for breakfast!
  • Get creative with what’s collecting on the “Eat First” shelf in the fridge. See a video of the “aha” moment for this father and daughter below! Delight your budding chef with the task of assembling “Bagel Faces” from leftover veggie and fruit pieces, or maybe the last few olives in the jar. Thanks to Mollie Katzen and her charmingly-illustrated cookbooks for younger children.
  • Keep making friends with their family freezer.  Oh boy! Frozen grape “ice cubes” (great for iced tea and sodas)! All because somebody got proactive with the last third of a bunch that had started to shrivel. Veggie freezing tips here.
  • Enjoy portion control as part of summertime grilling and social gatherings. Foil-wrapped grill packages or bamboo skewers (with the sharpest point removed) are perfect for this. First kids help prep ingredients, then load up their own appropriately-sized servings. Wrinkled cherry tomatoes and peppers from the “Eat First” shelf can be pretty tasty right off the grill! Same with summer squash, onions, leftover chicken nuggets/tempeh, or what have you.

Getting creative with what’s already in the fridge! Credit: StopFoodWaste.org

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NEW IN LOCAL SCHOOLS THIS FALL!
A fun educational video in English and Spanish, starring local kids

We’re pleased to shine a brief spotlight on NFLB’s amazing “Eco-EduTainment” program for local schools, run by our Outreach Specialist Kjersten Hallin, aka Magic Mama. When the pandemic shut down schools, she also shifted digital and began developing an educational video as a fun new way to teach kids about the massive issues around food waste and climate change.

Anyone who’s seen “Magic Mama” at the downtown Farmers’ Market (prior to COVID19) or in their classroom knows what a delightful presence she brings to this huge topic. Her curriculum, delivered with the help of some catchy raps performed on unusual handmade instruments (like a repurposed pizza box), inspires kids to “rock” the prevention of wasted food in their own families and social circles of influence.

More than just entertaining, Kjersten’s presentations also help schools fulfill their district’s core and STEM education goals. (Please click on the photo to jump to NFLB’s Eco-EduTainment program page.)

Watch for exciting details about the Eco-EduTainment videos, launching in 4th and 5th grade classrooms this fall!

 

No “Alligator Pears” left behind

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

The sunshine season has finally arrived here in the Mid-Willamette Valley, and with it the bursting cornucopias of fresh colorful fruits and veggies in our local gardens and Farmers’ Markets — from strawberries, beans and broccoli to cherries, peaches and snap peas. Hooray for our local growers and harvesters!

One “fruit” I particularly enjoy that is not grown locally is avocado — also known as the “alligator pear” because of its shape and mottled, reptilian-like skin. Botanically speaking, it is a fruit (actually a berry)! It’s also a nutritional superstar, containing healthy fats, fiber, potassium and an impressive profile of other vitamins that make it a staple of healthy and specialized diets like keto.

NFLB’s “Avocado Hero” mascot

Many of the avocados consumed in the U.S. are grown in California, so they are plentiful in Oregon. I love ’em stuffed and on toast, in guacamole, sushi, fresh salads, dressing, salsa and many other dishes. Avocado is also a prime ingredient in high quality cooking oil, skin care and cosmetic products.

But as I have experienced — and I bet you have too — avocados are highly perishable! How often do you need more than one and bring home a discounted mesh bag of avocados, intending to make a big dish of guacamole (we love this recipe from First Alternative Co-op)… only to find yourself stuck with a batch of mushy, shriveled or off-tasting avos several days later?

For sure it happens, and I CONFESS: I’m still working on “no alligator pears left behind”! I tend to waste 1-2 a month, for varying reasons (more on that below).

Credit: California Avocado Commission

HOW TO RIPEN & STORE YOUR “ALLIGATOR PEARS”

The first thing to remember about avocados after you get them home is that they emit ethylene, a naturally-occurring gas given off by certain fruits (such as bananas, apples and tomatoes) as part of their maturation cycle.

This off-gassing will speed up the ripening (and potential waste) of nearby fruit or veggies. If you want to help those rock-hard avocados along in that process, place them in a paper bag (not plastic), labeled, with the date.

  • Check these tips from the experts in the avocado industry. (They do NOT recommend consuming the pits!)
  • As advised in our handy A-Z Fruit and Vegetable Storage Guide, store them separately from other fruits or veggies on the counter and check often for ripeness, before transferring to a visible/accessible spot in the fridge (your “Eat First” area). (Keep separate.)
  • One of our regular Kitchen Confessions readers has discovered the egg rack in the refrigerator door is perfect for storing avocados!
  • To prevent browning on cut avocados, spritz on some lemon or lime juice and store in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic.
  • Check Still Tasty.com for more details about storing fresh avocados.
Credit: California Avocado Commission

WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE OVER-RIPE “ALLIGATOR PEARS”

  • PUREE ‘EM and stick ’em in puddings or smoothies! BigOven.com has lots of recipes for Chocolate Avocado mousse.
  • BAKE WITH ‘EM: Make avocado chocolate chip brownies or muffins! Check your favorite foodie website or blog.
  • FREEZE ‘EM (after slicing or pureeing) and transfer to freezer-safe containers for later use (don’t forget to make a note on your handy Freezer Inventory!)
  • DON’T MAKE GUAC WITH ‘EM! In my experience, bad avos ruin the taste.
  • GROW AN AVOCADO HOUSEPLANT with the pit.

*****

Now for this edition’s Kitchen Confessions!

Karen’s dead alligator pear
Half eaten, not enjoyed; the other half went into a smoothie

KAREN CONFESSES:

I love avocados, but can never eat a whole one at one time. Even when I buy just one at a time and try to carefully monitor its ripening, I frequently end up with the other half becoming inedible!

At left, an avo that was at the appropriate stage of ripeness. But during a recent roadtrip, it had spent some time in and out of the cooler, and had begun to spoil. After a couple of off-tasting spoonfuls, I made a shake with the rest.

At right, a dead avo that I put in a paper bag on the counter to ripen, then forgot that it was in there! (It was an unlabeled, nondescript paper bag that I managed to ignore.)

$$$ WASTED: Around $5-$6/month

LESSONS LEARNED: Mark the bag or put an “Eat First” label on my brown bagged avocados. Also I will probably start buying two avocados at a time, use one right away, and follow my own advice to puree/freeze one avocado for later!

Avocado sticker by local company, Plant Posse

NO FOOD LEFT BEHIND IN THE MEDIA
Did you see our spread in the Summer 2021 issue of the Co-op Thymes? Many thanks to Editor Adam Payson for this wonderful feature!

Carrot Top Pesto & other “zero waste” ideas

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

We’re still giddy over the response to our first-ever Leftovers Recipes Contest (Drawing), in which local Conscientious Chefs shared creative methods for wasting less food and money at home, one meal at a time! Thanks again to all who participated.

Emily S.’ Leftover Spaghetti Pie

We’re pleased to highlight in this blog some of our Recipe Contest chefs who are tossing fewer items into the compost and making more soups, casseroles, pesto, curry and muffins — thus demonstrating a “zero waste” kind of mindset. Be sure to check out our new Recipes for Leftovers section, which we hope will provide you with some fresh inspiration as well as more $aving$ for your grocery budget!

Remarkably, one of our original drawing winners donated her gift card — so we were delighted to be able to do a second drawing. Congrats to our “Runner Up” drawing winner Emily S. of Philomath, whose leftover Spaghetti Pie has also been uploaded to our new Recipes section.

(Note: you’ll see quotes around the term “zero waste” because I’m using it rather loosely.)

FROM LESS WASTED FOOD TO “ZERO WASTE”

For many of us, even if we’re actively pursuing a more sustainable lifestyle, “zero waste” may sound a little intimidating.

You’re already being more conscious about wasting less food at home. You’re already working the 3R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. What more can you do? You can step it up and place added focus on “Reduce,” which means preventing waste in the first place. With everything we use and consume — especially in our own kitchens — we can all develop a “zero waste” mindset that asks:

    • “What can I do with this before it becomes part of the waste stream?
    • Can I eat it/reuse it/compost it/recycle it first?”

In Kitchen Confessions terms: how can you do more with the food you already have? How can you use parts of the food you don’t typically think of as edible, like cheese rinds? Produce peels, rinds, stalks, tops and bottoms? Bones and coffee grounds? Keep scrolling, Conscientious Food Consumers!

COMPOSTING VERSUS ZERO WASTE

Most of the time, we on the NFLB staff downplay composting in our messaging and outreach, even though we do actively support the practice. Why downplay it? Composting can make it easy for us to excuse our wasting habits. If the food that got composted was edible in the first place, then technically it was still wasted! See our page: “What About Composting?”

Given the scale of the food waste problem, composting is “inextricably linked” with zero waste. But the real goal with “zero waste” is to maximize, as much as possible, the resources represented in every part of our food.

Producing soil amendment from spoiled and/or undesirable food is certainly better than sending that inedible organic waste to the landfill. In Corvallis and Philomath, residents have the option of curbside composting through Republic Services, while OSU’s Extension Service offers advice on getting started with backyard composting.

Donna T’s Watermelon Rind Pickles
Donna T’s Carrot Top Pesto
Sarah B’s Veggie Scrap Soup Stock

SOME “ZERO WASTE” CONTEST RECIPES

  • Donna T.’s Carrot Top Pesto (shown as handy frozen single portions) and Watermelon Rind Pickles, using those parts that typically go to waste.
  • “I haven’t paid for vegetable stock in years,” boasts Sarah B. when introducing her Vegetable Scrap Soup Stock. Her family’s stock-from-scratch doesn’t need aseptic packaging and uses veggies and trimmings that others might toss: “any sad and wilted individuals from the bottom of your veggie crisper,” carrot or parsnip ends/peels, onion skins/ends, mushroom stems, cauliflower/cabbage cores/leaves, kale stems, or celery stumps.
  • “Almost anything goes!” says Rebecka W. of her One Pot Adaptable Curry — a  recipe she “adapts” with odds and ends from her spice cabinet as well as whatever she finds at fridge clean-out time.
  • Mali G. blends up random fruits/veggies, and found a great new way to use the byproduct with her Juice Pulp Muffins!
  • Donna P. prepares her Everything Ramen Soup with random leftovers and stock from “scraps that I am cutting off of the produce, like onion butts, carrot tops, chard stems, mushroom stems, bits of ginger that have gotten tough, meat bones — pretty much anything that isn’t funky or rotten…”
www.eatyourselfskinny.com/juice-pulp-muffins/
Donna P’s Everything Ramen Soup
Rebecka W’s One Pot Adaptable Curry

TODAY’S KITCHEN CONFESSION:

I CONFESS that I am still learning what “zero waste” means!

I must also FRANKLY CONFESS that in this blog, I’ve been using the term rather loosely to describe recipes with ingredients that would normally get tossed or composted. Assuming these dishes were completely consumed (either by people or people food-loving animals), they might then qualify as truly “zero waste” recipes!

In the waste management and recycling industries, “zero waste” is a complex topic. It’s also a growing global movement that is fundamentally altering human attitudes and practices regarding our relationship to natural resources, consumption and waste disposal.  Learn more about the “zero waste” movement!

A few recommended resources:

As a project of the Waste Prevention Action Team of the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, the NFLB campaign and Kitchen Confessions are here to help you (and ourselves) “step it up” along the path to zero waste!

Leftover Recipe Contest Winners!

Happy Earth Day/Week, Conscientious Food Consumers!

Our first-ever Recipe Contest featuring YOUR LEFTOVERS is a big success! Many thanks to everyone who participated. You ALL are winners in the No Food Left Behind movement!

We received 25 submissions for tasty, homey and creative meals, including ethnic and zero-waste-inspired dishes. Our contest chefs reported saving anywhere from $3-$20 with their recipes and prevented at-risk items like these from going into their compost bins or garbage carts:

  • Carrot tops, cauliflower stems/leaves, wrinkly tomatoes, squash, kale, greens and other past-prime veggies;
  • Leftover turkey, chicken, chicken bones and canned tuna fish;
  • Leftover spaghetti, mashed potatoes, beans, macaroni, takeout rice;
  • Bruised peaches, overripe bananas, even veggie pulp from the juicer;
  • Year-old Valentine’s chocolates!
  • Past “Use By” and “Best By” dated cans of tuna, packaged pancake mix,  packaged shredded coconut. (Note: see “Check before you chuck it,” about those dates on food containers and packaging.)

We had a lot of fun reviewing your wonderful submissions, and wished we could have doubled the number of Co-op gift cards for our drawing! Reminder: although we called it a “contest,” it was actually a random drawing — from a real straw hat.

Amy’s spiced up leftover chicken
Marvel’s sheetpan roasted veggies & feta made enough for two leftover dinners!
Virginia’s mac-n-leftover squash-n-cheese

CONGRATULATIONS to our Drawing Winners:

  • AMY B., Leftover Chicken with Indian Spices
  • MARVEL V., Sheetpan Noodle Soup
  • VIRGINIA N., Mac-N-Leftover Squash-N-Cheese

Again, HUGE thanks to everyone who submitted! Your recipes will be listed on our NEW Leftover Recipes compilation page (under construction) and may also be shared on our NFLB Facebook page (“NFLBCorvallis”).

A FEW FAVES:

  • Sue’s Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Soup), combining the divine flavors of lemongrass, curry paste, coconut milk with leftover meat/veggies, served over leftover takeout rice;
  • Sarah’s Always-Homemade Soup Stock from veggie scraps stored in the freezer;
  • Leigh Ann’s Grits & Greens, making Southern comfort food with polenta and aging greens;
  • Olin’s Olde Valentine Choco-Coco Cookies; and
  • Donna’s Watermelon Rind Pickles and Carrot Top Pesto

NFLB STAFF RECIPES: Unbeknownst to one another, we both did something with tuna fish! (Note: staff recipes were not included in the drawing.)

Many of us have made nachos before, but what about Tuna Nachos? That’s what Jeanette, NFLB’s Director, was inspired to do. She says they were just as tasty as the conventional kind!

I was inspired by a childhood memory of “Fish Fridays” to make Tuna Patties with Picklejuice Crema, using a couple of “expired” cans of tuna in my pantry. Instead of standard tartar sauce, I used some juice from my favorite dill pickles that was left over in the jar after all the pickles were gone. (I’ll never throw pickle juice out again!)

CONGRATULATIONS again to our contest winners!

In our next Kitchen Confessions, we’ll highlight several zero-waste recipes from our drawing. The zero-waste approach in the kitchen utilizes even more parts of food and thus prevents more greenhouse gases. HAPPY EARTH DAY 2021!